Painting the plastic

[shwazz714]

Would it be easy to paint some of the plastic lining (wheel fender, parts of front and rear bumper) to body color? I don’t love the chunky plastic look at the edges of the front and rear bumper and would love to paint them body color (meteor shower)… what’re your thoughts?

 

[EOD Guy]

If you use paint formulated for Plastic/polymer..... sure you could paint it and it would be as durable as the painted plastic bumpers on other vehicles.

 

[LCNorth]

Everything is possible given enough time and money. Bet this would be pricey.

 

[EOD Guy]

Actually not to bad by the dealer, as it is new and no blending required. Very little prep work, again cause it's new.

The hood on my Tacoma Limited didn't come from the factory, I had to purchase the hood and get it painted to match. Toyota collision did the work cheaper than the local autobody shop.

If you were to DIY and have a paint gun, just about any collision center will sell you a qt of paint matching the paint code.

 

[easyC]

If you do go ahead and paint to match vehicle, please post pictures. Interested to see what it would look like.

 

[socallc]

Any renderings with all plastics painted?

 

[utahguy]

One thing to consider is the texture of the plastic, which will show through the paint. Toyota plastics tend to use a fine pebbly texture, and when you paint it the finished product will look more orange-peel than the smoother steel/aluminum stamped parts. It will change the appearance of the gloss, too, looking a bit more flat. You can see the effect on some of the new Tacoma trims with painted fender flares. It's not a big deal for some people. To me it looks like a bad aftermarket finish when a painter doesn't control the atomization well.

Aside from that, the plastic parts should be relatively easy to remove and take to a shop for proper paint application. Done right the paint will be as durable as a painted bumper.

 

[shwazz714]

One thing to consider is the texture of the plastic, which will show through the paint. Toyota plastics tend to use a fine pebbly texture, and when you paint it the finished product will look more orange-peel than the smoother steel/aluminum stamped parts. It will change the appearance of the gloss, too, looking a bit more flat. You can see the effect on some of the new Tacoma trims with painted fender flares. It's not a big deal for some people. To me it looks like a bad aftermarket finish when a painter doesn't control the atomization well.

Aside from that, the plastic parts should be relatively easy to remove and take to a shop for proper paint application. Done right the paint will be as durable as a painted bumper.

Appreciate that insight and agreed it might not look great if the texture is different.

We will see if the plastics bother me long term or if it’s just something I focus on in pictures now when I that’s all I have to look at vs actually driving and enjoying the car!

 

[shwazz714]

Also could be interesting to see if you could get some of the parts from the Latin America top spec Prado to plug and play….

 

[Esquire]

That looks sharp. I bet that will be an option available at some point.

Land Rover does that as well with their Autobiography packages.

 

[mkg]

Is that a rear fog light under the taillight?

 

[EOD Guy]

I'm likening this front bumper cover.

 

[Esquire]

Also could be interesting to see if you could get some of the parts from the Latin America top spec Prado to plug and play….


View attachment 2971

This looks significantly more upscale than all of the unpainted black plastic. This is one issue I have with the Land Cruiser. Even the Premium Pkg looks unfinished.

Range Rover Sport did that when they first were introduced and the LR4's had a lot of unpainted plastics. I never have cared for the look.
Range Rover Sport finally offered a "Silver Package" which painted all unpainted plastics and it looked sharp.